Pai Zhuq Love
by John Silver fan
Summary: A certain Pai Zhuq finds himself in love with someone who has always been there for him but never truly got enough attention from him. Unfortunately, he has a bit of competition.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Jungle Fury characters, but Master Finn's first name and Molly are mine.

* * *

Every since she had helped him regain control of his animal spirit, RJ found himself thinking about and watching Fran more than ever before. When she smiled or laughed he felt like his heart was fluttering. He was starting to wonder if he was in love with her.

"RJ" Casey's voice came by his ear.

"Ah!" cried the Wolf Master as he recoiled from the Red Ranger.

He looked at him.

"What?"

"I think that's enough flour."

He pointed to the bowl RJ had been putting some flour into for some more dough, and RJ saw that it had a mountain of flour, the whole bag having been pours.

"Oh!"

There was flour on the table and all over him.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I've been trying for the past five mintues."

"Oh."

Casey shook his head.

"I'll clean this up, you got change."

Just then the alarm went off, and in a flash, the rangers were off to fight Dai Shi's next minon.

They returned after a hard fight and a close call, exhausted and a little ragged,

"Eat up, guys," Fran said as she came up into the loft with a pizza.

"Thanks, Fran," they said as they each took a peice.

The next day, as RJ was starting to make one of their specials, Casey came in.

"Hey, RJ, there's some guy that says he knows you."

RJ went out to see his old friend, Domonic, with Fran, who was laughing at something he said.

"Who's the guy flirting with Fran?" Theo asked.

"A friend of mine," RJ answered as he felt a twinge of jealously.

He went over to them and clapped Domonic on the shoulder.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes, Dom."

Domonic chuckled.

"Hello to you too."

The friends hugged for a moment, and RJ gave Domonic a job at JKP.

As the days passed and Domonic had become the Rhino Ranger, RJ noticed that Fran was spending a lot of her free time with Domonic, who wasn't even trying to hide that fact that he was fliting with her and she seemed to enjoy it.

It didn't take Casey, Lily, and Theo long to figure things out.

RJ was jealous.


	2. Chapter 2

They confronted him one day in the loft.

"We know."

He looked at them, confused, honestly having no idea what they were they were talking about at the moment.

"Know what?"

"About how you feel about Fran."

His eyes widened, and he blushed.

"You're jealous because she's spending so much time with Domonic and enjoys his flirting."

"Okay, fine. You caught me. I'm jealous, just don't spread it around."

The three rangers smiled.

"I don't know what to do. I'm sure you guys can't help because you haven't been in any romantic relationships."

"No, but we do know someone who has."

He looked at them.

"Who?"

"Me," said Master Finn as he vaulted over the railing of the upper part of the loft and landed lightly on the training mat.

RJ had a feeling that this wasn't going to turn out too well.

Casey, Lily, and Theo and went back to work, and RJ looked at his father.

"Look, Dad, no offense, but I'm not too sure about this."

"RJ, come here."

"Why?"

"Just come here."

RJ went over to his father, and Master Finn smacked him in the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"For being so doubtful. You're a Pai Zhuq Master and a Power Ranger."

"That doesn't seem to help me in a relationship," the Wolf Master said as he rubbed the back of his head.

Master Finn sighed. This was going to be harder than he thought.


	3. Stress and Playtime

As the days passed, Master Finn, with some help from Lily, tried to teach RJ how to handle a relationship.

One day, as Master Finn and RJ were working in the kitchen, Fran came in.

"One large RJ Special."

"Coming right, Fran," Master Finn said.

After Fran left the kitchen, RJ sighed.

"This is hopeless."

Master Finn shoved the clump of dough he was holding in RJ's face. Then he got another ball of dough and started to make the crust for the pizza.

RJ pulled the dough from his face.

"What was that for?"

His father gave him a look as he continued to make the pizza.

"It's not hopeless, RJ."

"If you say so, Dad."

The Shark Master sighed and massaged his temples. He could feel another headache coming.

"Can you finish this? I'm gonna take a break."

"Sure."

Master Finn went upstairs, where Lily was, also on her break, shooting hoops.

"Hey, Master Finn."

"Hey, Lily."

He had become less formal and more laid back since he and RJ had made ammends.

He took an asprin and sighed.

"RJ giving you another headache?"

He nodded.

"He's not making an effort, and if he doesn't make an effort we might as well be trying to teach the basket."

Lily couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah."

She tossed him the ball, which he caught.

"The best way to get rid of stress to just have some fun."

He smiled.

Casey came up for his break to find Lily and Master Finn locked in a one-on-one game.

Master Finn made a free throw shot, despite Lily's attempts to block him.

"What's the score?"

"Shark: twenty. Cheetah: two," Lily said.

Casey smiled at the score and the smug look on Master Finn's face.

"I'll make a come back."

"Not with two minutes left in the game."

Casey seated himself beside RJ's chair to watch and avoid getting hit.

The final basket was made with a backwards, slam-dunk from Master Finn.

"Whoa!" Casey and Lily exclaimed.

The Shark Master dropped to the floor, landing perfectly on his feet.

"Agility of a shark," he said with a grin.

He and Lily went back downstairs just a Theo came up for his break.

"What'd you do, Dad?"

"Huh?"

RJ looked at his father.

"I heard Casey and Lily yell."

"He did a backwards slam-dunk."

RJ's eyes widened as he stared at his father in shock.

"Wow."


	4. Bad Morning

The sound of an alarm clock shattered the silence of the small house on the beach, waking the man from his dream.

A hand snaked out from under the blanket, quickly found the alarm clock, turned it off, and fell over the side of the bed.

A Golden Retriever made her way over to the bed and licked her master's hand, causing him to jump.

The man shot up, the blanket still over his head, and turned so he was sitting, having been laying on his stomach.

The cell phone beside his alarm clock went off. He grabbed it and answered it, not bothering to remove the blanket.

"Hello?"

"Dad, where are you?! You're running really late!"

He pulled the blanket off and looked at his alarm clock.

"Hold on."

He brought his fist down on the alarm clock, making it show the correct time, which was 10:45. His shift started at eleven!

"Aw, dang it! I'll be there soon," he said and then hung up.

David James, or better known to his friends as Master Finn, leaped out of bed and quickly pulled on his Jungle Karma Pizza uniform. He pulled his long, blonde hair back into a loose ponytail, put on his hat, put the Shark Morpher his son had made for him, which allowed him to become the Shark Ranger, grabbed his keys from the counter, darted out the door, slamming it shut, and sprinted to his truck with the Goldren Retriever at his heels.

He flung open the driver's side door, allowing the dog to jump in, got it, shut the door, put on his seatbelt, started the truck, grateful he had renewed his driver's license recently, and drove to Jungle Karma Pizza.

When he reached the pizza parlor, he got out, shutting the door after the dog got out, and dashed inside with the dog behind him.

Robert James, better known to everyone else as RJ, looked at his watch and then at his father.

"You made it with five mintues to spare."

"Sorry. I need to get a new alarm clock."

RJ nodded as Casey, Lily, Theo, Fran, and Domonic came out of the kitchen.

"Finally decided to show up, huh?" Domonic said, teasing the Shark Master.

"Give him a break, Dom," Lily scolded.

The Golden Retriever went over to Casey.

The Red Ranger smiled and knelt down to pet her.

"Hey, Molly."

"Okay, Casey, if you could take her upstairs please."

Casey nodded and took her upstairs to the loft so she wouldn't get in the way.

The parlor opened for business and soon have serveral customers. Master Finn, Fran, and Casey were kept busy taking orders and serving the pizzas. There were several occasions where Master Finn or Casey had to do a rather fancy move to avoid either Fran or each other.

"I hate Saturdays. Busiest day of the week," Master Finn said when he was able to stop for a moment.

"Oh, yeah," Casey agreed.

He saw a couple with a little girl about five sit at one of the tables Master Finn was in charge of.

"You got some new customers at table 5."

The Shark Master sighed and went over to the table, his pen and pad ready.

"Welcome to Jungle Karma Pizza. I'm David, and I'll be your waiter today. Can I start you off with some drinks?"

The man, a few years older than RJ, thought for a moment.

"I'll have a Diet Coke."

Master Finn nodded as he wrote it down then looked at the young woman, who was probably the same age as RJ.

"I'll have a Diet as well."

"All right."

The Shark Master then turned his attention to the little girl. He knelt beside her chair.

"What would you like to drink, sweetheart?" he askedgently.

"Sprite," she said shyly.

He smiled.

"You got it."

He stood back up.

"I'll be right out with your drinks."

He went into the kitchen, got the drinks, and took them out to the family. He gave them their drinks.

"Are you ready to order or would you like a few more moments?"

"Look! A doggie!" the little girl cried, point towards the kitchen.

Master Finn whirled around to see Molly.

"Ah!" he cried, despite himself.

He looked at them.

"I'll be right back."

He darted towards his dog.

"Molly!"

Molly, two years old, thought it was some kind of game and ran around the restaurant, keeping just out of her master's reach.

Finally, he leaped forward and caught hold of her collar, stopping her.

Theo came over with the leash that was kept at JKP if one was needed there, and Master Finn clipped it to her collar.

With the loop over his wrist, he stood up, brushed himself off, and straightened his clothes. He went back over to the family.

"I'm really sorry about that. I honestly don't how she could have gotten out."

"It's all right," the young man said.

Molly was sniffing the little girl, who looked rather frightened.

"She won't hurt you, she's just curious."

The girl slowly reached out and began petting Molly.

Molly's tail wagged happily.

Master Finn smiled then turned his attention to the couple.

"Are you ready to order?"

"Yes."

He pulled out his pad and pen.

"What'll it be?" asked, making a mental note to tie Molly upstairs.

"We'll have a large RJ Special."

He smiled.

"Our best seller. Coming up."

He went back to the kitchen.

"One large RJ Special."

Casey came in and found himself face to face with the Shark Master.

"Any idea how she got out?"

"I might not have shut the door all the way so she pushed it open," the Red Ranger answered, a bit intimidated by the taller and much older man, who was a good four inches taller than him and nearly thirty years his senior.

Master Finn took Molly upstairs and tied her leash to a railing away from the stairs. He then went back downstairs just as the pizza was finished baking it and brought it out to the family. He went back into the kitchen, massaging his temples as he could feel another headache coming. He took an asprin and sighed.

He was already having a bad day.

Unfortunately, the day was just beginning,... and so was the lunch rush! On top of that, they had Dai Shi to worry about. How long would it be before he sent another monster to try to destroy them?

The Shark Master was in for a _very_ rough day.


	5. Chapter 5

"Okay, guys, we made it through another Saturday lunch rush," RJ said.

The others plopped down into some chairs with a sigh.

Master Finn took off his hat and fixed his ponytail for a moment.

"Someone remind me why I took this job again."

"So you're here when the Rangers are needed and so you could earn some money," Theo said.

He sighed and put his hat back on.

"Today is not my day. I was running late, Molly got loose and ran around the restuarant, several of my customers were rude, and a group of teenagers thought it'd be a good idea to make fun of me, one little girl thought it would be funny to throw her slice of pizza at me, and one kid kicked me in the shin!"

The others winced at that.

"That's why you were limping."

The Shark Master nodded.

"Oh, Dad, speaking of the pizza being thrown at you, you missed a spot on your right cheek."

He sighed and wiped off the last bit of pizza sauce from his face.

"Well, at least Dai Shi hasn't attacked yet."

Just then, the alarm went off.

"Should've seen that one coming."

The Rangers swung out of the loft and rushed off to fight Dai Shi's next monster.

It was Grizzaka himself.

"This isn't good."

"Rangers, prepare to be destroyed!" the Overlord yelled.

They prepared themselves for a hard battle.

The day just kept getting worse and worse.


End file.
